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Ministry of State Security
The Ministry of State Security, commonly referred to as State Sec, is a government ministry of the Republic, with responsibility over galactic law enforcement, domestic security, and intelligence-gathering in both foreign and domestic spheres of interest. The MSS and the Ministry of War are the primary agencies responsible for national security. Like several other ministries, State Security is composed of numerous departments, bureaus, and agencies operating within its organisational umbrella. Some of these departments are functionally independent or autonomous entities, though some of them cooperate to a very large extent. Its two primary subdivisions are the Republic Security Department and the Field Operations Department. The modern State Security apparatus developed out of the combination and amalgamation of various Terran Imperial security and intelligence agencies in 3270 to form the Imperial State Security Department within the Ministry of the Interior. Its integration with formerly-allied police and intelligence agencies, as well as the large Terran police bureaus and interstellar police agencies, completed the formation of a total and inclusive national security and intelligence ministry. History Predecessors The modern State Security apparatus is drawn from several preceding organs of the Imperial Terran government and of the National Humanist Imperial Labor Party. The primary government agencies involved in the transition were: the Imperial Strategic Intelligence Agency, responsible for foreign intelligence-gathering and direct special action; the Imperial Investigations Agency, which was responsible for criminal investigations which crossed interplanetary boundaries; the Domestic Security Agency, which was responsible for domestic intelligence-gathering and surveillance and cooperated heavily with Imperial Investigations; and the Imperial Space Police, which patrolled and enforced the law in interplanetary areas and between star systems on behalf of the Imperial, rather than local, governments. Two main agencies of the Party were also involved in this transformation: the National Volunteer Force and the Party Security Bureau. The NVF expanded from a small paramilitary unit dedicated to defending the Party's headquarters offices to a large corps of over a billion street-fighters and agents organised into regimental-sized "Standards". The NVF was composed largely of military veterans who flocked to the Nationalist programme of strengthening the Army and the aggressive expansion and unification of the human race. Over time, the NVF assisted in protecting National Humanist voters going to polling places from attack by Communist militants, often engaging in street brawls. The Party Security Bureau organised itself as an information network working with the NVF, an internal "intelligence agency" that both fought corruption within the Party and gathered information on its external enemies. In the years prior to the Great War, the complex of Terran Imperial intelligence and investigative agencies came to be dominated by members of the NHILP, particularly the NVF and PSB, as part of the National Humanist "soft revolution". Emergency measures taken during the 3260s against Communist terrorism and colonial insurrectionists aligned the Party security and paramilitary apparatus with that of the government. In 3268, an Imperial Decree mandated that all agents of the Imperial intelligence and police agencies become members of the NHILP and join either the NVF or PSB. During the war, the ISIA became tasked also with the political and moral discipline of military units in the field. In 3269, all of the Imperial intelligence and police agencies were placed under the administration of Frederick Voss, who was also appointed Chief of Party Security. With the title "Chief of Imperial Intelligence and Police", he coordinated all of these agencies to conduct both domestic and foreign intelligence-gathering for the betterment of the war effort. With this, the preceding agencies acted to eliminate treason and insurrection at home and to conduct covert strategic operations against enemies abroad. The results were successful. In November 3270, the nations of the Interstellar Treaty Organization committed to a unified Confederation, with a central assembly, treasury, and governing committees to coordinate the war effort and construct a pathway to the political unification of the human race. The Imperial intelligence, police, and field discipline agencies were brought under the Imperial State Security Department, a department under the Ministry of the Interior, with Frederick Voss as its first executive Director. A January 3271 act of the Confederate Assembly granted the ISSD extraterritorial rights to act throughout the Confederation and enforce the law. The DSA and elements of Imperial Investigations under the oversight of Henry Heavenly, merged into the Imperial Security Main Agency, responsible for investigating and prosecuting for political crimes. The ISIA was reorganised as the Field Operations Agency under the directorship of General William McGrady, and bolstered by the integration of NVF brigades as active-duty government-sponsored paramilitary forces. The Imperial Guard was also integrated into the ISSD as the Imperial Personal Protective Agency in 3273 under the command of General Xander Vox, and was given broad discretion over the protection and security of VIPs and other special or important assets. The Imperial Space Police was merged with Imperial Investigations to become the new Galactic Space Police, and was placed into a federation of all Imperial provincial and interstellar police under the command of Bastian MacBeth. After April 3275, the ISSD dropped the "Imperial" from its moniker. After the assembly of the 1st Central Galactic Congress in February 3276, the State Security Department was hived off from the Interior Ministry. An appropriations bill expanded and reorganised it as the Ministry of State Security. Ministry After is reformation in 3276, the MSS became an enormously important organisation responsible for virtually all policing and security matters. It shares this responsibility with the Armed Forces, and coordinates with military formations in counterinsurgency, anti-piracy, foreign intelligence-gathering, and direct action operations. However, there are several areas where State Security has almost sole purview, the primary area being domestic intelligence and policing. Some particular special-interest areas of law enforcement are handled by separate agencies, such as the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Transportation. State Security, however, has express oversight capacity over all of these, and directly manages the enforcement of law on most federal territories. Previously, the National Police Department was responsible for most policing, with several agencies managing fields of interest; but in 3286 it was dissolved and merged into the Republic Security Department. The RSD has authority over domestic intelligence-gathering, management of the prison system, and coordinating public surveillance and political security operations; it is tasked with combating treason and subversive behavior, and since 3286 is responsible for all normal policing and criminal investigation across the Galaxy. The Field Operations Department has direct control over the Occupied Territories of the Milky Way, and has operated units in major anti-piracy and criminal control campaigns as special response units, as well as being the primary ground force in Operation Crassus. State Security has been enormously important in the management of several crises facing the Republic. The 3280s saw the end stages of the Remnant Insurrection that began in 3279. The summer of 3280 also saw civil war and nuclear terrorism on the planet Keystone during the Keystone Incident, which shook the stability of the Republic. However, the involvement of State Security forces under the command of General Brian Kessar ably managed the crisis and defused the civil war. The middle of the 3280s also saw the explosion of violence in the Pirate War. Throughout the 3280s, the Republic Security Department under General Vox expanded its operations and conducted an overhaul of the correctional system, mass surveillance program, and the anti-crime network. In 3288, war broke out between the Republic and the recently-discovered Zaaroft Imperium. Several army groups of the Security Forces were deployed as the "tip of the spear" of the initial punitive expedition. State Security personnel of the RSD accompanied them to manage disarmed enemy combatants to allow Security Forces to continue combat operations. In 3293, most of the Personal Protection Department was rolled into the RSD. In 3295, a major political scandal erupted when Frederick Voss was implicated in a conspiracy against the Republic, evidence arising that Voss was in communication with members of the Galactic Resistance and other enemies of the Central Galactic Union. He was tried by the Supreme Criminal Court and sentenced to death. He was replaced by his Vice Minister and deputy, Henry Heavenly.